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Rotterdam Christmas, Dec 22, 2021 - Jan 2, 2022

richwmn

By richwmn,
in Holland America Line

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AV8rix

AV8rix

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Whee!  Just tested negative here in Fort Lauderdale!  @richwmn, might join you up on the Lido deck for sailaway -- IF I get everything stowed by then.  Didn't know you were a "ramblin' wreck".  I've worked with a few of those helluvan engineers at Boeing and McD.

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richwmn "Live from...." Rare

richwmn

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I arrived at terminal 26 at 1210, dropped off by Lyft after a very short ride. Every time I have sailed out of Port Everglades there has been a traffic jam waiting to get into the gate. That was not the case today.

Dropped of my luggage and determined that by the time the line got to the check in process it would be 1240 which was my assigned time, so I got in line. I'm pretty sure every one had some type of mask on, but forget any thought of 'social distinceing', it just wasn't going to happen. There was a priority line for 4* and above but I'm not sure that it made much of a difference. The process took about 45 minutes and I was on board. Put on the TV for the required viewing then went to the muster station. Since I have been in the same cabin on both Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam finding the muster station was no problem.

I then headed for Dive In and had a burger and fries for lunch. Lido bar server was Marlon (Brando), a server that has been mentioned on this board many times.

Sail away is in an hour and 45 minutes or so. Let the adventure begin!

 

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iflyrc5

iflyrc5

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5 hours ago, AV8rix said:

Whee!  Just tested negative here in Fort Lauderdale!  @richwmn, might join you up on the Lido deck for sailaway -- IF I get everything stowed by then.  Didn't know you were a "ramblin' wreck".  I've worked with a few of those helluvan engineers at Boeing and McD.

Where did you get tested in FLL?

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richwmn "Live from...." Rare

richwmn

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Sailaway was a bit late, but still very nice. Met a couple of the CC members, and will meet more shortly.

When I got back to my cabin there was a list of port experiences

The ports are: Phillipsburg, Sint Maarten

Castries, St Lucia

Bridgetown, Barbados

Roseau, Dominica

Basseterre, St Kitts & Nevis

Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, USVI

All are allowing HAL Excursions. Barbados and St Kitts are allowing government approved excursions as well. Sint Maarten and St Thomas are allowing Independent Tours.

 

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Quartzsite Cruiser

Quartzsite Cruiser

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Rich, thank you for starting this thread and taking us along for the ride.  Looking forward to what you and the other Dailyites have to say over the coming days.  Have a great cruise, and if possible, maybe you or someone else can post a group picture of the Dailyites.  It would be nice to be able to put faces with names and CC handles.

 

Bon Voyage.

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Btimmer "Live from...." Rare

Btimmer

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Rich,

 

Enjoy your cruise on the Rotterdam.  We sure enjoyed our 10 days onboard a few weeks ago and we're generally not big ship fans.  For some reason the Rotterdam was different than its sister ships.  We have a week or so to wait for our Zuiderdam month long cruise.

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richwmn "Live from...." Rare

richwmn

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Good morning from Rotterdam on a Sea Day.

Breakfast in the Lido was very good, the service was as always and the food tasty. When I went around 7am it was not very busy.

For today's activities we have trivia three times, bingo, a Ping Pong Tournament, Shuffleboard Challenge and a few other items. A pianist is scheduled for the Ocean Bar at 4:30pm and 5:30pm. The entertainer on the main stage is Jeff Peterson, a comic that I think I have seen before and was pretty good. At 8:20pm the big screen at the Lido Pool will be showing the 49ers vs Titans football game.

 

I did sit an listen to the Rolling Stone Rock Room band for a bit last night and they seemed good, and had a nice crowd. As always, friendly competent bar tenders and servers.

 

Tonight's menu in the Main Dining Room

741973615_Day2-menu_2.thumb.png.a09160284534a2e39694577820395178.png

Edited by richwmn
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richwmn "Live from...." Rare

richwmn

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1 hour ago, Quartzsite Cruiser said:

Rich, how many passengers are on the Rotterdam?  Forgive me if this has been answered and I just missed it.

I have been told 1900 - 2000 embarked passengers for the 11 day Christmas and New Years segment. Someone mentioned 350 as the number staying from the previous cruise.

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rkacruiser

rkacruiser

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8 hours ago, richwmn said:

I did sit an listen to the Rolling Stone Rock Room band for a bit last night and they seemed good,

 

If you return several times to this venue, I'd be interested if the groups playlist is varied or if their playlist is close to being the same night after night.  When I sailed on Nieuw Statendam, the group was very good.  But, their playlist was rather limited.

 

8 hours ago, richwmn said:

Tonight's menu in the Main Dining Room

 

Oh, this is a very good menu!  Three of the Starters, four of the Mains, and all of the Desserts:  all greatly appeal to me!  

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tompeter

tompeter

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33 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

If you return several times to this venue, I'd be interested if the groups playlist is varied or if their playlist is close to being the same night after night.  When I sailed on Nieuw Statendam, the group was very good.  But, their playlist was rather limited.

 

 

Oh, this is a very good menu!  Three of the Starters, four of the Mains, and all of the Desserts:  all greatly appeal to me!  

If the Rock group is still the group with Mackenzie as the lead singer, they are great and a vast playlist to boot!

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seaoma

seaoma

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49 minutes ago, tompeter said:

If the Rock group is still the group with Mackenzie as the lead singer, they are great and a vast playlist to boot!

 

That's the group we experienced in November. We talked to the group and they said they had 250 songs that were approved, 150 of which they knew very well and the other 100 they could do a good job with. We heard very, very few repetitions, with the ones that were repeated due to guest request.

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